Africa’s untapped resource for development and prosperity
Corruption, maladministration has ruined potential football industry on the continent
WHILE football administrators, athletes and business people are bracing themselves for the inaugural World Football Summit (WFS) Africa, which will be held in Durban on March 17 and 18, I wish they’d read the book titled
by Stefen Szymanski and Simon Kuper.
So, why does England lose? In answering this question, the authors sound much like development economists citing inadequate investment, bad governance, policy vacuum and poor business judgements as the main contributing factors.
The African football fraternity, too, needs to indulge in some muchneeded introspection on “why does African football lose?”
The strength of the continent’s sports, particularly football, has not been sufficiently appreciated by African governments for it to be integrated into national development plans. There is no doubt football could play a critical role in attaining political peace and stability, promoting economic growth and in attaining sustainable development. However, football in Africa remains an untapped resource for development and prosperity.
African football stakeholders are advised to dissect deeply the reasons that hinder the development and success of the continent’s football despite its massive talent.
As WFS director Jan Alessie said, “Africa is a continent where there is a passion for football like few others and we believe that behind this passion and truly genuine way of experiencing sport, there are great business opportunities that can benefit both the companies involved in this sector and the general population. With the launch of WFS Africa, we hope to contribute to the strengthening of an industry that benefits all of society”.
According to data from Nielsen, Africa is the continent where football is followed with the greatest interest; Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa are the three countries in the world where the beautiful game is played the most.
The 2010 Fifa World Cup, the first to be hosted by Africa, was a spectacular success, with one caveat – the dismal showing of African national teams. Bafana Bafana achieved the dubious distinction of being the first host team to be eliminated in the first round of the competition.
Even with a number of Africans playing in major leagues abroad, performance of African teams at the World Cup continues to deteriorate; and at national level, football clubs suffer from a lack of professionalism, corruption and tribalism. Why do African teams have dismal showings in the global competitions?
While apologists point to the lack of infrastructure on the continent, insufficient sponsorships and bemoan lack of commitment of foreign-based players, the evidence points to corrupt and incompetent administration.
A damning report by the Forum of African Investigative Reporters (Fair) put the blame squarely on the shoulders of corrupt and inefficient administrators. “While players have sacrificed their personal fortunes to develop not just soccer but their own communities, and have in some cases bailed out their national teams, the administrators tasked with developing the game focus on personal gains.”
The report again claimed that large amounts of sponsorship cash generated in Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and even Zimbabwe rarely trickles down to players and grassroots soccer development.
Corruption and maladministration in football administration is a universal problem, yet in Africa the scum appears to lie perilously close to the top. In view of this and other factors, many African countries feature prominently on the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index; mostly in football. Most African journalists are of the opinion that corruption has ruined African football. There are substantial sums of money, coming from various sponsors and Fifa development projects, which have disappeared into people’s pockets, and most African football facilities, are in an appalling condition.
Sports stands for good governance, respect for the rules, fair play, honesty and discipline. Yet sports ministries and football associations suffer from poor governance.
The WFS Africa is an ideal platform to meet, devise strategies to develop football, strengthen its administration, do networking and improve business opportunities within the African football industry. The huge sums of money associated with football have certainly led to greater excellence on the field. Unfortunately, in many cases the same often doesn’t hold true in the boardrooms inhabited by the power brokers.
Since last year, Fifa president Gianni Infantino has been working alongside the African Football Confederation to improve efficiency and to raise the governance standards of African football’s ruling body, CAF.
However, solutions to the problems will remain elusive until Fifa gets serious about eradicating mismanagement and corruption by strengthening and improving national accountability and transparency mechanisms.
Unfortunately, that seems unlikely: Fifa has always shown a red card virtually every time African countries have attempted to address corruption in their associations. Fifa follows a strict policy of suspending countries where governments dare meddle. On the surface this sounds great, but in reality, it serves to entrench maladministration, corruption and an untouchable mentality within football fraternity.
If Africa wanted to be recognised as a football powerhouse in the world, it must get its internal culture right and its business model right, It must find a way to create an environment that manages football as a brand, administration as an organisational asset, players as human capital, business as a strategic partner, fans as customers, non-football followers as untapped markets, and football as a tool for social development.
Such an environment will ensure that African football’s operations are associated with transparency, sound governance, business principles, fairplay and positive results on-and-off the field. Due to the changing nature of the global sports industry, most notably the movement to adopt business models of operation, questions of appropriate forms of governance have attracted increasing attention within and outside the football sector.
Let’s hope it filters through to African football. It’s high time.
It is ironic that Africa has emerging economic powers who are able to perform very well on the global football stage but is lacking businesses to manufacture or produce sports equipment and sports construction materials for not only the intra-Africa market but also the global markets. By and large, integration of sports, particularly football in Africa’s mainstream national development agenda will be essential and the first step to developing the sports industry, enabling it to serve as a catalyst for increased productivity and performance to improve the living standards of the African people.
In the words of Nelson Mandela, “Sports has the power to inspire – and it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does… sports can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.”